(LifeSiteNews) — On January 10, 2024, Francis addressed DIALOP, a group which promotes “dialogue” with “Socialists/Marxists and Christians.”
Speaking to the participants, he urged them to never stop “dreaming of a better world.” “Don’t back off, don’t give up,” he said, as he encouraged them to “take chances and run risks” for their “great dreams of freedom and equality, dignity and fraternity.” Their ideologies, he suggested, are “reflecting God’s own dream.”
He supported a continued dialogue with socialism and Marxism which doesn’t “exclude anyone at the political, social or religious level, so that the contribution of each can, in its concrete distinctiveness, receive a positive reception in the processes of change to which our future is linked.”
And he regarded the participants in this dialogue as “social poets” who are “putting creativity at the service of society, in order to make it ever more humane and fraternal.” Solidarity, he said, calls for “radical changes of perspective in the sharing of challenges and resources among individuals and among peoples.” He prayed that God may grant them “wisdom and courage” in what he asserts is their “work for a more just and peaceful world.”
Francis’s comments have attracted much attention. In this article we will consider whether his sentiments align with those of the great Roman Pontiffs of the past, and we will ask examine whether it is possible for Catholics to collaborate with socialists and communists.
Do we share the same aims for social “solidarity” and “a more just and peaceful world”?
Communism and socialism condemned by the Church
Two years before the publication of the Communist Manifesto in 1848, the nascent ideology was condemned by the Pope Pius IX as:
[T]he unspeakable doctrine of Communism… a doctrine most opposed to the very natural law.[1]
This doctrine, if once adopted, would:
[U]tterly destroy the rights, property and possessions of all men, and even society itself.[2]
The 1864 Syllabus of Errors listed “socialists” and “communists” as among “pests” that had already been “severely reprobated” by the Apostolic See.[3]
In 1878, Pope Leo XIII promulgated the encyclical letter Quod Apostolici Muneris “On Socialism.” In this document the ideology was condemned as:
[T]he deadly plague that is creeping into the very fibres of human society and leading it on to the verge of destruction.[4]
Addressing a solemn warning to the Bishops of the Church he said:
You understand, venerable brethren, that We speak of that sect of men who, under various and almost barbarous names, are called socialists, communists, or nihilists, and who, spread over all the world, and bound together by the closest ties in a wicked confederacy, no longer seek the shelter of secret meetings, but, openly and boldly marching forth in the light of day, strive to bring to a head what they have long been planning – the overthrow of all civil society whatsoever.[5]
He decries socialists as those who:
[L]eave nothing untouched or whole which by both human and divine laws has been wisely decreed for the health and beauty of life.[6]
Socialists are to be condemned because:
- They “refuse obedience to the higher powers” who “derive the right of governing from God”
- They “debase the natural union of man and woman… by which the family is chiefly held together”
- They “assail the right of property sanctioned by natural law” and “by a scheme of horrible wickedness” strive “to seize and hold in common whatever has been acquired either by title of lawful inheritance, or by labor of brain and hands, or by thrift in one’s mode of life.”[7]
The Catholic Church, he asserts, has as a “special object,” the “safety and peace of society and the uprooting of the evil growth of socialism.”[8]
Communism and socialism contrary to the great social vision of the Church
In 1891, Pope Leo XIII promulgated his encyclical letter Rerum Novarum, “On Labour and Capital.”
This magnificent text proposed the great vision of the Church for the resolution of the social difficulties that had arisen from the industrial revolution. The encyclical was a blueprint for a just and prosperous society, that, if heeded, would have spared mankind the great suffering caused by revolutions and their resultant wars.
In the encyclical, the Supreme Pontiff deplored the effects of greed and exploitation that accompanied a capitalism unrestrained by justice. The “first thing of all,” he says, is
[S]ave unfortunate working people from the cruelty of men of greed, who use human beings as mere instruments for money-making.[9]
However, he rejected socialism as the solution. Socialists he says are “emphatically unjust”; they would “rob the lawful possessor,” “distort the functions of the State,” and “create utter confusion in the community.”[10] If socialism were carried into effect “the working man himself would be among the first to suffer.”[11] Furthermore socialists, “in setting aside the parent and setting up a State supervision, act against natural justice, and destroy the structure of the home.”[12]
Twentieth century popes renew the condemnation
The continued advance of socialism and communism, culminating in the Russian Revolution of 1917, brought forth new warnings and condemnations from the Roman Pontiffs.
In his 1931 encyclical letter Quadragesimo Anno, which both commemorated and expanded the vision of Rerum Novarum, the Vicar of Jesus Christ declared:
We have summoned Communism and Socialism again to judgment and have found all their forms, even the most modified, to wander far from the precepts of the Gospel.[13]
And, as even the most modified form of socialism is contrary to the gospel, the pope made it clear that no Catholic could ever be a socialist:
Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist.[14]
He lamented the lukewarmness shown towards Communism:
We cannot without deep sorrow contemplate the heedlessness of those who apparently make light of these impending dangers, and with sluggish inertia allow the widespread propagation of doctrine which seeks by violence and slaughter to destroy society altogether.[15]
In 1937, in the encyclical letter Divini Redemptoris, he resumed his call for combat against Communism. The conflict was, he said, part of the battle between good and evil which had been waged since the fall:
[T]he struggle between good and evil remained in the world as a sad legacy of the original fall. Nor has the ancient tempter ever ceased to deceive mankind with false promises. It is on this account that one convulsion following upon another has marked the passage of the centuries, down to the revolution of our own days. This modern revolution, it may be said, has actually broken out or threatens everywhere, and it exceeds in amplitude and violence anything yet experienced in the preceding persecutions launched against the Church.[16]
He warned that the Church was:
[W]itnessing a struggle, cold-blooded in purpose and mapped out to the least detail, between man and “all that is called God.” Communism is by its nature anti-religious.[17]
It was, he said, was the duty of the popes to denounce this evil:
In the face of such a threat, the Catholic Church could not and does not remain silent. This Apostolic See, above all, has not refrained from raising its voice, for it knows that its proper and social mission is to defend truth, justice and all those eternal values which Communism ignores or attacks.[18]
“The papacy”, he wrote, had “continued faithfully to protect the sanctuary of the Christian religion, and that it has called public attention to the perils of Communism more frequently and more effectively than any other public authority on earth.”[19]
Francis against the Roman Pontiffs
After considering the teaching of the Roman Church over a period of nearly one hundred years we can compare it to the words of Francis quoted at the beginning of the article. It is clear that they are in no way compatible with the doctrine and spirit of this great succession of Roman Pontiffs.
Where Francis praises, they condemn. Where Francis sees beautiful dreams, they foresee death and destruction, which has indeed come to pass. Where Francis sees “freedom and equality”, they see the ruin of justice and liberty. Where Francis calls for dialogue, they call for resistance and the “uprooting of the evil growth.”[20]
Indeed, the very method of dialogue promoted by Francis has already been condemned by Pope Pius XI:
In the beginning Communism showed itself for what it was in all its perversity; but very soon it realized that it was thus alienating the people.[21]
Therefore:
It has changed its tactics, and strives to entice the multitudes by trickery of various forms, hiding its real designs behind ideas that in themselves are good and attractive. Thus, aware of the universal desire for peace, the leaders of Communism pretend to be the most zealous promoters and propagandists in the movement for world amity.[22]
In pursuit of this strategy:
They try perfidiously to worm their way even into professedly Catholic and religious organizations. Again, without receding an inch from their subversive principles, they invite Catholics to collaborate with them in the realm of so-called humanitarianism and charity; and at times even make proposals that are in perfect harmony with the Christian spirit and the doctrine of the Church.[23]
The Supreme Pontiff made it clear that there could never be any collaboration between Catholics and communists:
See to it, Venerable Brethren, that the Faithful do not allow themselves to be deceived! Communism is intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever.[24]
The approach adopted by Francis towards communism and socialism is completely incompatible with the approach adopted by the Successors of St. Peter. For:
In the face of such a threat, the Catholic Church could not and does not remain silent. This Apostolic See, above all, has not refrained from raising its voice, for it knows that its proper and social mission is to defend truth, justice and all those eternal values which Communism ignores or attacks.[25]